The present invention relates to ophthalmologic apparatus for fundus examination of a patient's eyes. The invention also relates to an attachment to a slit lamp to adapt it for use in such examination.
A modern opthalmological slit lamp is a versatile instrument for comfortable eye anterior segment examination under high magnification and stereoscopic observation. For fundus examination, an accessory lens is necessary to image the retina in a position where it can be reimaged by the microscope. A contact lens, as well as high power negative or positive noncontact lenses, can be used for this purpose. A double aspheric +90 diopter noncontact lens with anti-reflective coating has been found particularly useful since it provides a high quality, magnified, real, inverted, stereoscopic retinal image. Further, it avoids the difficulties caused by contact lens examination in apprehensive patients, children, or following eye surgery. It also avoids the small size retinal field provided by the negative noncontact lens. However, this slit lamp funduscope is not yet widely used, since the need to align the hand-held or mounted +90 diopter lens in front of the examined eye, and simultaneously to manipulate the microscope with the other hand, makes the technique cumbersome and unattractive for routine funduscopy.